


some would sing and some would scream

by TheTartWitch



Series: Twilight Remixes [2]
Category: Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer, the short second life of bree tanner
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Fred sticks around au, Grief/Mourning, Hatred, I'm stuck, OC main character, Victoria still doesn't win, let me know if you think I need more tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 18:55:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11561274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTartWitch/pseuds/TheTartWitch
Summary: Beau, Fred, and Bree aren't going to die for the woman's petty, awful grudge. They're going to find a way to survive this mess.But still.Her bonfire blazes the brightest.





	some would sing and some would scream

**Author's Note:**

> BEAU IS NOT FROM LIFE AND DEATH. Though I love that character, he wouldn't have worked in this fic. So I borrowed this name.  
> Lots of questions will be answered at the end, so spoilers if you go there before reading the fic.

He hides in the back of the woman’s army, sticking close to Bree and Fred. Riley and the woman wanted the girl, but he didn’t really care about that; the ending of the fight, though, that was worth sticking around and seeing the end of. He’d slip into the shadows, take Bree and Fred with him...there was no need to risk his permanent death for the woman, for a girl he’d never met and felt no anger towards.

And from the force the woman had amassed, she expected a fight. One she might not win.

\--

The clearing was large enough to hold them all: the woman’s newborn army, slavering for the girl too much to notice much of anything else, and the girl’s protectors, vampires and giant wolves alike. He felt his still heart skip what would be a beat.

“We aren’t going to win,” he whispered to Bree and Fred, knowing that Bree’s eyes were scanning the clearing for Diego, her boy, her mate. “Let’s get out of here, we don’t stand a chance.”

Fred nods. Beau likes him; he’s always had a good survival instinct, and little to no attachment to Riley or the woman. Bree’s begun to realize that Diego’s not here, and that means he’s not ever going to come. She nods too, her fingers shaking as she grabs his hand. Her eyes are staring into the woman’s back, blazing, and little snarls roll up in her throat.

“Later,” Fred whispers. “Maybe, when they win, they’ll let you destroy her.”

Bree takes a deep, solidifying breath. Her knuckles tighten, then release.

Beau eases them into the shadows, into the grey space between existing and _being_ , where he can feel everything again: his heart beats, rushes in his ears like he’s stuck his head underwater; he breathes out, and life tingles through every part of him. He doesn’t know why this happens, but it’s made living in the woman’s bunker so much easier.

\--

The fight is over quickly. The woman doesn’t stand a chance, rushing off to where they’ve hidden the girl, and Beau takes them right up to the leader, the man the others called Carlisle, and steps out of the man’s shadow.

“Peace!” He shouts, hands raised in supplication. “Please, friend, we don’t want to fight you!” Bree nods, attempting a smile. She can’t quite manage yet; Diego’s loss will sit heavy on her shoulders for the rest of her life. Fred doesn’t seem to care either way, but stands ready to mount a defense if he must.

The yellow-eyes pause. They eye Beau's little coven suspiciously until three others enter the clearing: a yellow-eyes with red hair, a human girl ( _his nose tells him this is_ the _human girl the woman had wanted destroyed_ ), and a boy who stinks of wolf, like the others who had been here before. Bree’s eyes catch on the girl and she grins viciously, some of the weight easing from her for just a moment.

“So she’s dead,” she says, and the redhead grins back at her. Beau tilts his head curiously, feeling the shadows astride this person. _Mind reader_ , says his shadow, _has_ _killed for_ _his human girl_. He nods.

Fred glances at Bree. “They killed her? And Riley?”

Beau glances up, feeling along the edge of the mountain’s shadows for it, the violent rejection of flames, and points to the smoke. “They lit a bonfire.”

\--

When the Volturi arrive, Beau, Fred, and Bree are sitting among the yellow-eyes peacefully. They’re none of them fully under control yet; the girl’s scent calls to Bree and Fred like nothing else, but they hold themselves steady, keep her downwind and sometimes even turn away from her with apologetic smiles. They don’t want to hurt her feelings, but they would rather do that than actually hurt her. Beau feels no such compunction.

“Beau’s always handled it the best of all of us,” Bree tells Carlisle. “The smell, the urges. Riley seemed almost afraid of him, the way he could resist it even better than Riley and Victoria.”

Beau shrugs. “It’s not as impressive as all that. It simply isn’t that important to me.”

Carlisle leans forward, his face eager. “Why do you think that is?”

Beau thinks, turns it over in his mind. “I couldn’t say exactly why...it’s like being human and feeling hungry. You’re aware of it, of course, but you know that eventually there will be something and there’s no need to hurt people to get what you need.” He reaches out to the trees with a hand and lets the shadows coalesce around it. “Plus, knowing anything you might want to know about your prey makes it hard to see them as animals.”

The redhead is interested now also. His human girl smiles softly at Bree just as the wind shifts. Bree’s entire demeanor changes instantly and she readies to lunge, but Beau’s already secured her to her log with the flame’s shadows against her legs.

“A mind reader?” The human girl asks, unaware anything had happened. Bree sits quietly, ashamed of herself. Fred wraps an arm around her shoulders. He’s used to containing the thirst from his long days in the woman’s bunker.

“Not quite. Just physical things, things your shadow could observe. It sees everything you do, and will tell me anything I might need to know about you. For example,” Beau pauses, lets the shadows whisper excitedly in his ears, “Carlisle prefers goat to lion or bear, though I don’t know why. Esme had a child before, one she lost. The wolves live nearby, and have recently had some sort of non-verbal quarrel over something, and only one of them is female, or feminine in body.” He glances down at the fire. “I don’t know anything about dead people or people I’ve never met, because their shadows haven’t had the opportunity to tell me, though with the latter I could simply search them out or listen for a specific shadow’s whisper.”

\--

The Volturi frown at his small group. Bree’s shadow tells him of their meeting with the woman, how they’d sanctioned this fight hoping to defeat the yellow-eyes, and he shifts closer to the redhead and the girl, his ire rising.

“The Volturi has rules, rules that must be upheld,” the blonde is saying, eyeing Beau’s shadow-cloaked fists and seemingly fascinated with how she can’t look directly into Fred’s face.

“That’s a piece of shit if I ever heard one,” Beau says pleasantly, and Fred and Bree move to stand beside him. “How could you punish us for something you allowed the woman to do? Something you _encouraged_ her to do?”

Riley had told them there was a mind reader in the group; he hopes they’re picking the memory from Bree’s head, understanding the situation. If they try to kill Beau or his friends, he’ll crush their heads and set them alight. There are any multitude of things he can do with his power that he hasn’t even explored yet.

“We’ll vouch for them,” Carlisle says quietly into the tense silence that follows. “They simply didn’t know the rules; we’ll teach them and take responsibility.”

The blonde pauses, heavily displeased with this course. She’d hoped no one would find out about the Volturi’s involvement, but hopes were made to be dashed. “Aro and Caius won’t be pleased with this,” she settles on, and Carlisle spreads his arms.

“And of course my dear friends may visit at anytime! They are always welcome at my side, they must know this.” He smiles at her gently, steely, determined.

The blonde frowns but ultimately steps off. “Very well.” She turns. “Expect a visit soon about Bella’s humanity, then.”

\--

Eating animals is strange. Bella and Beau have the most ease with changing their diet; it’s Bree and Fred that struggle. Their minds are ready, willing, but they’ve grown used to a particular type and their bodies are stubborn.

The number of wolves nearby the house multiplies. They follow Beau and Bella while hunting and steer them away from people. Beau teaches Bella how to fight the way he’d learned in Riley’s pit, and Bella teaches Beau how to blend in among Forks’ population, how not to stick out. It’s only been a few months since Beau was human, but they were months spent in isolation around others like him.

The place really was perfect for blending in, but he wanted to travel a little bit before settling down anywhere for good. Bree and Fred had made their desire to stay with him known, though Fred had been sneaking off to spend time in the woods with one of the wolves, a small sandy one that rolled about and played with Fred like it was a puppy. Beau hadn’t said anything, though: it was Fred’s secret until Fred told them about it.

\--

It’s hard for Bree to stay inside nowadays; the sight of sunlight on her skin, transcendent and glittering, is Diego’s first gift to her, something that will always remind her of him. Beau stands out on the porch of the Cullens’ home and watches her, keeps her in his sight. He could find her anywhere in an instant, he’s so used to her shadow and Fred’s, but it soothes his instincts to watch her. Bella sits beside him, still unaccustomed to the way vampiric skin refracts light.

“It’s even better with these eyes,” she whispers, and he hears, in his head, how she watched Edward step into the sunlight all those years ago; how she’d been dazzled by Laurent in the clearing, knowing he would kill her and still frozen in place. He’s grown to like her, this girl he once thought of killing.

Fred wanders out of the forest with his Seth by his side, fingers unconsciously resting in the wolf’s fur. Beau smiles at the sight, raises a hand to wave even as Bella glances away from them. She still can’t look directly at Fred, despite how long she’s known him.

Bree bounces over to Fred, describing the bird she’d startled in the woods while feeding, and greets Seth just as happily. Living here has been good for her.

Killing the woman would have been better, but you don’t get everything you want.

He thinks...he thinks he’ll stay a while, if Bree doesn’t mind. Fred’s already said that he’ll go anywhere with them, having already wanted to see the world, but now he’s torn about leaving Seth behind. He’s unable to find a medium that satisfies him, but Beau and Bree are willing to wait while their friend figures it out. They don’t want him to be unhappy on the road; that would make them sad too.

**Author's Note:**

> OC Abilities:  
> Beau Sheppard: able to “become one” with shadows, able to know every physical thing about you due to shadows’ “whispering”, able to transport through shadows and bring others through physical contact.
> 
> NOTES:  
> I headcanon Fred’s last name as Cassidy because I couldn’t find it anywhere. Also, Beau is an OC so I did whatever I wanted. I tried not to make him overly super-powered because I think stories like that are boring, but I also wanted him to have something strong. I think it was an okay compromise? Feel free to comment. (The main weakness with him gift is that he only knows physical things. Any motivations, reasons for doing anything, emotions, or loyalties/thoughts he won’t know unless they say it out loud. Also, shadows aren’t very intelligent. What they say is whatever is on their mind or being discussed at the moment.)  
> Please suggest scenes you’d like to see for this au! I like this one and wouldn’t mind writing more of it. Preferably from one of the three’s pov, but I’m open-minded.  
> Also, p.s., Beau doesn’t say Victoria’s name not because he doesn’t know it, but because he hates her and fears her and used to live directly under her thumb. It’s his personal, quiet rebellion and has now become a habit. Turning is painful. Seeing the face of someone who’d just kidnapped and is now hurting you so much you wish they’d just kill you is going to mess you up, and Beau’s way of coping is pretty small, I think.  
> Anyway, these notes were long. Thoughts?


End file.
